The teachers and writers who volunteer for The Freehand Arts Project do not currently receive any compensation for their time or skill in bringing art classes to their incarcerated students, who always yearn for more poetry, more art, more opportunities to write and draw and share themselves with others.

That’s what we do. Every dollar you donate to our organization will go to straight to the teachers who must juggle all the demands of making their own way in the world with the volunteer work that reminds them — every week — what really matters. It will also help us publish an annual anthology of our students’ work and, well, keep the lights on.

We think this work helps create a world where people who make a mistake can find out who they are again, and who they want to be. In the words of one poetry student at the Travis County Jail: “I like this woman in the mirror, this woman I do not know.”